WIP Prey (2017) sprites

I hope to one day see this as a mod for Starbound. I'm not skilled enough to undertake such a complex mod however so for right now, I am doing sprites. In this storyline, Transtar is affected similarly to the rest of the human race and were forced to escape to outer space when Earth was destroyed by the Ruin. The Ruin destroying Earth would take place after the events that happened on Talos 1 and Pytheas moon base and before the official ending of Prey and Prey: Mooncrash, so the end of those storylines wouldn't have happened. However, some of the characters from Talos 1 and Pytheas moon base survived and other Typhon out there have spread across the galaxy. In a Starbound setting, some characters, like Abigail Foy, Luka Golubkin, Jada Marks, Hendrick Devries, Hans Kelstrup, etc will have died in the actual Typhon invasion but other characters, like the Yus, Danielle Sho, Walther Dahl, etc will have survived and managed to escape on Dahl's shuttle. (after Dahl was incapacitated and his memory was wiped, in which he became an ally) Pytheas moon base members like Vijay Bhatia, Riley Yu, etc have also managed to escape the Typhon outbreak there, but with the deaths of other staff including the Kasma spy, Claire Whitten.

In this setting, the explosion ending would have happened and not the nullwave ending. However, Morgan refused to let the survivors die. So Morgan altered January's plans. While January wanted him to explode the station regardless if others escaped or not, Morgan wanted to gather survivors and any research they had as fast as possible (with help of Sarah Elazar who was in the Cargo Bay with survivors) and make sure they were safe before using the arming keys to detonate the reactor. After incapacitating Walther Dahl and Dayo Igwe wiping his memory, they turned Dahl to their side and got him to shuttle the survivors out because most escape pods (they considered using Alex's and one other functioning pod before Dahl's arrival) were malfunctioning. Operators were also saved to treat survivors and the shuttle's systems. Morgan felt that the loss of the station (and Pytheas moon base) would hit Alex Yu (and all of Transtar) hard enough to force them to change for the better. The survivors and the research they salvaged would allow them to use it to find ways to make the Typhon friendly and protect Earth instead of continuing to use it inhumanely for profit. Corrupt members of Transtar would also be criminalized after the reveal of their cruel research and of what happened to Talos 1 and Pytheas. Exploding Talos 1 to kill the Typhon won't hold them back for long (there are more Typhon out there) but it would buy them time. Morgan was forced to incapacitate Alex and January to get them to the shuttle. Alex was still being stubborn and January objected to Morgan altering its plans to recover research and delaying exploding the station, regardless if others escaped. January was also against Morgan escaping as it felt Morgan was a threat to Earth, as a past memory Morgan intended to die.

• After beating Erchius Horror for the first time, Alex Yu can be met at the Outpost. He heard that you saved the Mining Facility from Erchius Horror. He recognizes your prowess and asks you if you've heard of Transtar (your character has and responds with yes automatically) then he mentions that you must've also heard of Morgan Yu. Two options come up. If you answer with "Yes, I've heard of him" then Morgan is male, if you answer with "Yes, I've heard of her" then Morgan will be female. Alex will say that Morgan is his brother/sister and that their main base is not far from the Outpost. He gives you coordinates so you can teleport to their base from the ship teleporter. The main base is where all major Transtar characters appear and the base itself cannot be mined, much like the Outpost so staff will never become hostile to you. You can still raid storage for items. NPCs at the base, even armed ones, will ignore hostiles (and vice versa) that are spawned in via spawn commands in admin mode, as enemy NPCs are not supposed to be there. The enemy NPCs will only target you and will pass through friendly NPCs unharmed, much like at the Outpost.
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• Other Transtar bases can appear as well (hostile and non-hostile) as either space stations, planetary bases, or even moon bases! Planetary and moon bases will become hostile if you steal furniture but become friendly again if you leave and teleport back. Moon bases will have air in them after you pass through an airlock barrier so you can take off EPP devices while inside. Erchius Ghosts are repelled and can't enter.
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• After the loss of Talos 1 and Pytheas moon base to the Typhon invasion, surviving personnel that escaped turned over a new leaf and wrestled control of Transtar away from the board of directors. Morgan Yu forced Alex to relent despite Alex wanting to continue Neuromod research. Now they are dedicated to studying Typhon, finding a way to make Typhon friendly, and also finding ways to empower the human race without the cruel experiments and sacrifice of Volunteers to Mimic Typhon to extract material for making Neuomods. There are still corrupt and hostile Transtar bases out there however that are continuing cruel experiments without the friendly branches knowing.
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• Hostile Transtar bases will often have Apex scientists (the Apex race, NOT to be confused with Apex Typhon) also working there with the human personnel, due to their prowess with science. Operators, Turrets, and Harvesters here will always be hostile, but not corrupted. Corrupted Operators, Turrets, and Harvesters only spawn with Technopaths nearby. Transtar overall is mostly humans but other races have also been hired.
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• Friendly Operators give buffs and restore your stats randomly when near them. Medical Operators provide you with health regeneration for a short time, Engineering Operators increase your defense for a short time, Science Operators will prevent you from losing energy for a short time, and Military Operators boost your attack for a short time. Also, if you are really low on health and/or have debuffs, a Medical Operator will fully heal you when spoken to. If they become hostile and attack you on planetary bases due to you stealing, they won't restore you. (they have separate idle poses for friendly and hostile) Military Operators are the strongest line of defense against threats along with the armed personnel. Security personnel and Operators will become friendly again if you leave the planet and come back. Operators will attack enemies that come nearby.
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• Operators on hostile Transtar bases are always hostile to you, but not corrupted (otherwise they'd attack their own staff). Corrupted Operators only appear with Technopaths. Operators have different attacks. Green Medical Operators and Science Operators fire lightning blasts, red Medical Operators attack with their medical tools, Engineering Operators fire flamethrower, and Military Operators fire a beam attack similar to Erchius Eye weapon. Operators, friendly and hostile, will talk randomly. They can fly, but usually stay near eye level unless when in combat. They have idle animations and actively talk to others, don't mistake arm movements for them going hostile on you. Talking to them will also make them say random things. Operators of the same kind nearby will not stack the buffs.
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• Turrets are treated as item/weapons in your inventory. When placed, it summons them as an immobile sentry NPC with a health bar. Press E to deploy the Turret and it will attack threats. Press E again to fold it back up. Using the Matter Manipulator on the Turret NPC or on a surface underneath it will cause it to despawn and drop the Turret item, but if it loses all its health from enemy damage, it's destroyed. Destroyed Turrets drop a Broken Turret item, throwing this in a Recycler will recycle its parts that can be used in a Fabricator to craft a new Turret, provided you have a Turret Fabrication plan. Turrets will never attack you unless you steal from a Transtar base, in which case they turn on you. Turrets collected or crafted by you will never be hostile to you.
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• Turrets from enemy bases will always be hostile until you kill them. All Turrets (even hostile) will drop the Broken Turret item when destroyed, when E is used instead, they drop a regular Turret item. Hostile Turrets beaten in this fashion will be switched to your team when placed back down. Corrupted Turrets with Technopaths have a shadowy aura and cannot drop Turret or Broken Turret items, they also can't be deployed or folded up. They can only be destroyed and they will drop nothing. Turrets will talk like NPCs and will note if you or other NPCS are hostile or not.
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• Harvesters are occasionally found on Transtar bases. On planetary and moon bases, they can use their vacuum attack. It will suck in enemies and blocks and any other items dropped on the ground by you. (useful if you want the Harvester to recycle your unwanted junk) It will recycle the vaccumed material and dispense Transtar recycled material to use in the fabricator. Harvesters talk randomly and often sound rude. Harvesters on hostile bases will try to suck you in to kill you. Kill them first or stay out of range of the vacuum to avoid death. Corrupted Harvesters only spawn with Technopaths and will try to kill you as well.
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• After meeting Morgan Yu at the main base, you can then take missions from the staff there or from other friendly Transtar bases across the galaxy. Missions taken from the main base will generate a quest destination in any nearby area where your ship is located. Walther Dahl and Kaspar's missions usually ask you to investigate any other Transtar bases you may see and make sure there are no hostile ones. A marked planet will generate a Transtar microdungeon with rogue Transtar personnel you need to take out, similar to Peacekeeper bounty hunts. Dahl/Kaspar messages you and sends in a Military Operator or a Transtar security NPC to help you kill the Transtar base enemies once you get to the target planet. Killing all hostiles completes the mission if you speak to Dahl and Kaspar again. Sarah Elazar and Vijay Bhatia's quests are similar, but instead they ask you to track down and apprehend a rogue Transtar outlaws that are trying to set up a new base in space, also similar to Peacekeeper bounty hunts. Upon visiting the targeted anomaly or space ship, Sarah/Vijay will send in a Military Operator or a Transtar security NPC to help you once you find the rogue Transtar outlaws.
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• The Yus (Alex, Morgan, and their cousin Riley) missions usually have you investigate any anomalies in space and report to them on your findings. Taking such missions will spawn Typhon in a space anomaly called a "Typhon Swarm". Lower difficulty anomalies spawn Mimics and variations, Cystoids/Cystoid nests, and Tentacle nests. Higher difficulty anomalies spawn Greater Mimics, Telepaths, Technopaths (sometimes with corrupted robots), and Weavers (Weavers fire Cystoids at you). Phantoms, Poltergeists, and mind controlled NPCs won't appear in space as they can't battle in low gravity.
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• January's missions are boss missions and missions to obtain items for Transtar in return for rewards. For boss missions, January will send the coordinates to your SAIL to teleport you to places to fight the boss Nightmare on a boss-based Transtar planet facility or a boss Moon Shark on a boss-based Transtar moon facility. The boss missions are available after the defeat of the Ruin. January will state that the Nightmare and Moon Shark recognize Transtar as a grave threat and are attacking facilities to try taking them out.
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• Mikhaila Ilyushin and Joan Winslow will offer missions for you to obtain items for them like parts, materials, etc. and will offer rewards as a trade for the supplies. Aaron Ingram and Andrius Alekna are found on the main base as well but won't offer quests. They are once again volunteers for Transtar but are now treated humanely. Aaron repays Morgan for sparing him in the events of Prey and works for the new Transtar as thanks and now that Transtar ended inhumane experiments. Andrius became a friend of Aaron's and also works for Transtar to support his family, after letting go of pains of the past.
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• Sometimes, completing Morgan Yu's missions will reward you with an Operator partner. You can only have one of each Operator type (except that you can have one green and one red Medical Operator each), and they are automatically roaming your ship when you obtain them and won't count toward your max crew count on the ship. (you can have 12 regular crew members plus one of every Operator) You can take up to 2 Operators with you, or 1 Operator and one crew member. On planets, they also provide combat assistance and like crew members, they can be hurt by enemy attacks but they will respawn on the ship. Like crew, they are also affected by anything that heals player and NPCs. (healing water, healing fields from staves, etc) They can fly to attack aerial threats. Since they are always floating, harmful blocks and liquids are hardly a threat to them, though Operators are immune to poisoning. Interacting with them will tell them to wait or follow with one exception for the Medical Operator. (see below)
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• Operators restore stats and give buffs randomly like Transtar base Operators. Medical Operators will sometimes provide the bonus health buff to you, crew members, and another Operator, and will heal you if you speak to him at below half health and/or if you have debuffs. (the 2 Medical Operators will not stack their abilities) If you have both a Medical Operator and a medic with you, the Medical Operator will still give the bonus health buff to you and the medic, but he will also boost the duration of the medic's health regeneration buff and it will affect both you and the medic. Engineering Operators sometimes provide your gear with resistance buffs to all elemental damages for a short time, and he will also give these buffs to crew members and other Operators. (Operators are already immune to poison regardless) Science Operators will sometimes provide you with the bonus energy buff (NPCs don't use energy so the buff won't extend to crew and Operators) and if a chemist is with you, she will also boost the time limit of chemist buff and increase their power by 10%. Military Operators function like soldiers and outlaws, they provide no effects other than as combat support. Like village guards, Operators will engage in random chit-chat with you, and like crew, they investigate items and talk silently to other NPCs.
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• In addition, partner Operators have other effects while on the ship, except Military, who still only serves the same role as a soldier and outlaw. Medical Operators (if you have Apothecary or Medical Table stations) will reduce the amount of things needed to craft medical supplies and will give persistent bonus health to everyone, but 2 Medical Operator abilities won't stack. Engineering Operators (if you have Inventor, Engineer, or Architect's table) reduce the supplies needed to craft things there, gives persistent resistance to all elemental damage, and he will boost the effects of the Mechanic and Engineer's fuel usage and ship speed buffs. Science Operators will provide only you with persistent bonus energy (NPCs don't use energy) and she will also still boost the power of chemist buffs by an extra 10%. Operators will talk randomly like village guards. They also have idle animations and silently talk to others. Talking to them when having a full party will also make them say random things. They, like other crew, will attack threats if you happen to spawn a monster on the ship with the /spawnmonster command in admin mode.
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• Typhon appear in small numbers on all planets along with corrupted robots with Technopaths and hostile mind controlled NPCs with Telepaths. They will appear in larger numbers during missions to defend villages against Typhon attacks. Ocean based planets will not have such missions as there are no bases there other than Hylotl underwater cities on standard Ocean planets but the Typhon themselves will still appear on the surface of all ocean-based planets. Typhon cannot be tamed with current methods and can't be caught in capture pods. Transtar is trying to find ways to tame them.
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• Typhon have different abilities. Mimics can be disguised as furniture items, including storage chests. Not sure how they'd be coded, but perhaps they'd be coded as items but would be labeled in code as, for example, Mimic Pod Chest, Mimic Wooden Bench, etc. to distinguish them from the regular vanilla items. The code will tell it to turn back to a Mimic when a player gets too close, but wearing a Psychoscope highlights Mimic objects in red. Greater Mimics can do the same, but also can disguised as robots. They won't attack in their robot form, and will transform back and attack when you get too close. Phantoms are the only Typhon types that can't appear in space, excluding the boss Nightmare and Moon Shark. They are NPC corpses reanimated by Weavers, though you can't see conversions on screen (due to NPCs despawning when killed). Regular Phantoms fire golden glowing orbs. Thermal types fire flamethrower effects, Voltaic shoots electric blasts, and Etheric fires poison. Like Phantoms, Poltergeists are also reanimated corpses but are rarer. They attack by periodically sending a gust of wind under you to launch you in the air high enough to make you take fall damage. They also sometimes disappear and reappear in a puff of smoke, they can't be damaged when invisible. They also sometimes shoot golden orbs.
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• Cystoid nests explode when they sense you or non monster NPCs near, releasing Cystoids that suicide explode (like Paratails) on victims and inflict burning. They are attracted to movement so HOLD STILL or use Huntress Boltcaster to distract them. They also explode when killed. Tentacle nests behave in a similar way to Cystoid nests, they will extend tentacles to whip you when they sense you getting into range. Huntress Boltcaster distracts them. Telepaths fire psychic orbs and may be accompanied by hostile NPCs that are mind-controlled (unless the Telepath is in space). Hostile mind-controlled NPCs can be any vanilla race but are treated as monsters in code, because their only attack is to run up and suicide explode on you. They cannot be saved and must be killed. Telepaths also deliver a shockwave if you get too close.
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• Technopath attacks are similar to Telepath attacks but are electric attacks instead, and will electrify you if you're hit. Technopath attacks are an electric orb and electric shockwave, and they can be accompanied by (both in space or on planets) Corrupted Operators, Corrupted Harvesters, and/or Corrupted Turrets that must be destroyed. Technopaths can have minions anywhere (Telepath mind controlled minions can't fight in space) and their attacks inflict debuffs, so they are considered more dangerous than the Telepath. The Nightmare attacks by shooting large glowing orbs at you, three at once, they also melee attack when you are too close by stomping on you. Moon Sharks are similar to the Nightmare but instead summon stones to hurl at you, they also melee attack. While not as strong as the Nightmare, Moon Sharks burrow into the ground for a short time and attempt to come in under you after taking damage from your attacks.
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• Transtar items, weapons, and clothing can be obtained from Transtar bases. You can also get Fabrication plans (Transtar version of the crafting schematics) for Transtar items to be able to craft them at Fabricators. Transtar materials can be obtained from Recyclers and Harvesters. Harvesters will spawn materials randomly, and Recyclers will store unwanted items and junk, and at the press of a button, are transformed into materials to be used in a Fabricator. All Transtar items from a Fabricator use Transtar materials in the crafting recipe. Typhon Organs, Typhon Ganglions, Typhon Plasma, and Typhon Cortexes dropped from killed Typhon can be put in a Recycler to be turned into Exotic material. Metal based items and junk, ores, and most weapons can be put in a Recycler to be turned into Mineral material. Fabrics, plastic based items and junk, clothing, and some weapons can be put in a Recycler and turned into Synthetic Material. Food, rotten food, raw meats, plant-based items, and liquids can be put in a Recycler to be turned into Organic material. Recycler Charges can also be used to create these materials.
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• Transtar items have different effects. The shotgun and pistol are a Transtar based weapon that functions just like the weapon is meant to. The golden Pistol and golden Margrave shotgun however, are even stronger upgraded versions. The GLOO Gun has the same effect as stunning an enemy with electricity but using a blast of sticky white GLOO instead. GLOO stuns enemies for a few seconds until the GLOO breaks off. GLOO can also behave like a block when shot at floors, ceilings, and vertical walls, allowing you to create a makeshift ladder. Mining it does not give you material, the GLOO simply breaks and disappears. The Huntress Boltcaster is mostly a harmless toy, but it can be used to distract enemies and get them off your tail. Also distracts Cystoids and Tentacle nests, which will make them attack foam darts instead of you and NPCs. The Wrench is your typical fix it tool, but in this case, it's used as a weapon. The Q-Beam is the strongest weapon. Because of its special mechanics in Prey, to keep it simple for Starbound, it functions similarly to the Erchius Eye weapon, but it's a tier 6 weapon and has a longer range.
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• The Disruptor Stun Gun paralyses enemies for a short time and does damage, but is especially potent against robots. EMP charges stun, but not damage, robotic targets and disables any electric based attacks for a short time. Nullwave devices will prevent Typhon from using their projectile based abilities and can only do melee for a short time. Typhon Lures render Typhon non-hostile for a short time until the lure fades. Psychostatic Cutter does damage to all targets but is especially potent against Typhon, and also has nullwave effects on them. Robots are immune to Psychostatic Cutter. Typhon spore sends tentacles out for a few seconds like a Tentacle nest, whipping nearby enemies. Recycler charges, when thrown, do damage to enemies and also sucks in dropped items and any dislodged blocks, converting them into Transtar material. Enemies that are killed are also converted into material. Unlike in Prey, weapons don't use ammo, they use energy instead like other Starbound weapons.
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• Artax propulsion system (functions as a leg tech) allows you to jump higher than normal and glide when when pressing and holding space down after a jump. Allows you to avoid fall damage if you land during a glide. The propulsion system also allows you to rocket yourself in low gravity on moons or no gravity in space, even if your mech is destroyed. Wearing a Psychoscope on your head (functions as a head tech) will allow you to see where Mimics and Greater Mimics are (the false object glows red) and allow you to get information about the on-screen Typhon like resistances, immunities, and weaknesses. This info is stored in an item called Transtar diary, and it contains Typhon data of the Typhon you scan. You get the diary and the Psychoscope from Morgan upon first meeting. Transtar food can be crafted at a Transtar kitchen station, and have the same effects as other Starbound foods upon eating them.
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• Operator Dispensers summon Operators of the corresponding type, they'll teleport in similar to how a spawned NPC through the /spawnnpc command teleports in when a player is in admin mode. Operator Dispensers can be picked up and placed, even on the ship, but the summoned Operator will not behave as a crew Operator if on your ship, so it can't be brought with you. Pressing E on a placed dispenser will bring in an Operator but it will summon no more than 3 (but can summon more if any summoned Operators get killed), and picking up a dispenser will cause Operators that it spawned in to despawn.

 

Don't know who else to add now. I think I have pretty much all the major NPCs and monsters. Minor Transtar personnel will likely be procedurally generated humans in Transtar attire. I am bad at animating sprites so I may need help with that, as well as sprites for items and weapons. I hope to eventually get that done in the future if anyone is interested in helping.

 

Wow that's a very detailed and extensive idea, I'm impressed! also I love those sprites, especially the typhons, they look great! and I think that the idea of Morgan and Alex working together to find a way to make Typhon friendly is fun and cute, I like it.

I've played Starbound only a few hours, I don't know it too much. And I've never tried to mod anything, so I'm not sure if I can help with this project. But I could try and see if I can learn enough to make some progress, it looks interesting.

I've been searching tutorials, and there are some, but do you know any guide/tutorial in particular which you can recommend me to start?

Unfortunately, I don't have too much free time, so any possible progress I can make will be very slow Besides, I wouldn't like to stop with my current game because I'm pretty enthusiasmed with it. And speaking of that, would you mind if I use some of your sprites on it? I think they could work very well and I'd be glad to get some help.

Well, I hope we stay in contact then, thank you!

P.S.: I hope my syntaxis isn't too weird haha

 

I don't know how I didn't get notified of this reply, my apologies! And I am happy that you like this idea! I did miss a couple sprites though, I forgot the Tentacle nests and the elemental Mimics so I gotta to those. This sprite sheet of course excludes items, weapons, and furniture. Transtar bases I think will just use the generic Starbound base materials, just with some added Transtar signs, the winged lion statue, and a couple other Transtar-based furniture like Recyclers, Fabricators, Operator Dispensers, reployers, machines, etc. As for a tutorial on coding, I will have to look online to find one. I can't for the life of me figure out how to code, it's too confusing.

 

Edit: I forgot to add the Tentacle Nests and Elemental Mimics from Prey: Mooncrash, but don't worry, I will add them soon! As for Claire Whitten.....I am not gonna add her. Without being too spoilery, I didn't add her because she was not truly a Transtar employee. Walther Dahl on the other hand, was working for Transtar in some way despite being a loose cannon and having no problem sacrificing the employees but nonetheless I added him anyway IF in this scenario, he had his mind wiped and was redeemed. (slight game spoilers)